What's in your bag

Andy Del · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:51 am Post subject:

I have a sore back. For tomorrow's gig I have:

C trumpet
Piccolo trumpet
music (one display folder and volume 2 of Bach complete repertoire)
Valve oil
Pencil
iPad (under the arm)
music stand (in hand)

Anything else is not needed and I can't be buggered carrying around extra stuff no good reason.

cheers

Andy
_________________
so many horns, so few good notes...

Louise Finch · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 2:32 am Post subject:

Benge.nut · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Mar 2017 Posts: 695

Not all of us Yanks are using iPads and tablets!! I'm pretty old school and prefer paper charts still. Maybe my eyes are weak and I don't like staring at those tiny tablets.

I've also seen enough guys struggle with lighting, fumbling looking for lost charts, and accidental deletion of stuff on the band stand that I prefer to have them in my hands!! When technology is involved I'm a bit of a Luddite.

On jazz gigs players are always frowned upon who bring fake books on the stand, and now they get equal or more stink eye looks when the are frantically page turning on a tablet looking for a tune.

dstdenis · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 4:46 am Post subject:

Benge.nut · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Mar 2017 Posts: 695

I'm waiting and curious to see what the next step in technology is re: IPads etc.

Holograms? Imagine a 6 or 8 inch beam of light projecting your charts, and you can change pages like Tom Cruise in Minority Report!! That would be pretty cool!!

Or...brain implants? Just think about the tune, or the page turn or making the print larger or make corrections, and it just happens?!?!

Skynet baby!!!

deleted_user_680e93b · New Member Joined: 03 Apr 1996 Posts: 0

dstdenis · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:14 am Post subject:

Benge.nut · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Mar 2017 Posts: 695

deleted_user_680e93b · New Member Joined: 03 Apr 1996 Posts: 0

Benge.nut · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Mar 2017 Posts: 695

deleted_user_680e93b · New Member Joined: 03 Apr 1996 Posts: 0

Benge.nut · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Mar 2017 Posts: 695

Sorry to be so negative!! Not all the cruise ship guest ents were bad. Some were a ton of fun too!! And when you're lucky to have a period with a good show band, it makes it worth while.

Sometimes we got to play great chicago tunes and EWF, BS&T and TOP stuff. And when the horn section was tight and the band grooved, it was always a blast.

One of my favorite shows was with a impressionist/guitar player that did all the great 70s stuff and sounded just like Jim Croce, Don Mclean, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot etc. The horns didn't play much, but he was one of my favorite shows to do anyway.

The music was hit and miss, but seeing the world, 50 plus countries made that gig worthwhile.

deleted_user_680e93b · New Member Joined: 03 Apr 1996 Posts: 0

Louise Finch · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:48 am Post subject:

Louise Finch · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:59 am Post subject:

Hi Guys

Thank you very much for all your replies.

Regarding tablets, I have a Samsung Android tablet rather than an iPad. I not at all familiar with any software for reading music charts.

My only experience is playing a couple of music pdfs from the following website:

http://www.justmusicuk.com/

Including this one:

https://www.justmusicuk.com/media/pdf/35000/JM35861%20Rusalka's%20Song%20To%20The%20Moon.pdf?t=1492883429

Long story, but I had a feeling that I may have suddenly had this sprung on me at one rehearsal, wanted to have a quick look at it in advance, and didn't have the sheet music at home. This never happened in the end.

I had two issues. One was that the back light of my tablet kept going off because I wasn't tapping the screen at all whilst playing. Presumably this is just a setting, and I could set it to stay on all the time (I don't use my tablet very often). The other was that I found it just too small when I viewed it portrait on a 7" tablet (Maybe this is my eyes, I don't know). Landscape, having no software to turn the page or scroll down, I had to stop and manually scroll down.

Probably an iPad is better than android tablet, I would need software designed to input and navigate the charts, and a 7" tablet is too small.

Going back to what we carry, the other week, we were discussing at one of my bands when someone forgot something, what is the most important thing not to forget.

I reckoned the instrument itself, as there is not much point being there without an instrument, but often someone will have a spare trumpet in a double case, or there is a spare instrument in the band cupboard.

Someone else reckoned music reading glasses, as you can't play if you can't see the music. I wear the same prescription for driving to the rehearsal/gig and reading music, so I don't tend to forget my glasses (I carry a spare pair anyhow). Often however someone will have a spare pair of glasses if someone forgets theirs. My old band master used to keep a selection of drug store glasses to help out people who had forgot theirs.

Someone else suggested music. Relevant probably if you are the only player on your part, and the band are playing the original copies of the set and there is therefore no spare. Not such a problem if you are playing Solo Cornet, or it is an old arrangement, with people having taken photocopies at one time to allow a double sheet to be put in single plastic wallets in a folder etc., and there are therefore spare copies floating around.

A mouthpiece was suggested, but a lot of us have more than one mouthpiece in our cases, and someone is bound to have a spare that would at least fit the instrument.

Things like a music stand (hopefully someone will have a spare or you can share with someone) or an instrument stand (you can hold an instrument) are probably less important.

Being worried that I might forget something and finding that I often need the very thing that I have taken out of my bag (I had a solo in a big band selection in my community light orchestra the other week, marked cup mute. As much as I like my Denis Wick adjustable cup, I didn't think its sound suited the piece at all, and wished that I had my Humes and Berg stonelined cup. It is now back in my bag, along with my H&B straight), I tend to carry everything I think I could need.

All the best

Lou
_________________
Trumpets:
Yamaha 8335 Xeno II
Bach Strad 180ML/37
B&H Oxford
Kanstul F Besson C
Yamaha D and D/Eb
- James R New Custom 3Cs
Flugel:
Bach Strad 183 - Bach 3CFL
Cornets:
Yamaha Neo + Xeno
Bach Strad 184ML
B&H Imperial
- Kanstul Custom 3Cs

John Mohan · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 11:47 am Post subject:

I'm helping Roger Wood (Shofar) out, playing 2nd trumpet for a band he's here in Chicago with for the weekend (Sonora Tropicana). Two sets at two different venues last night, three sets at three different venues tonight, and two sets at two different venues Sunday night (so much for the idea of “lazy musicians”). What's in my bag?

• Burbank Benge 6X .468” Large Bore Trumpet built with a .464” reduced Bell Tube
• My copy of Arturo Sandoval’s MV3C (for the 2nd parts I’m mainly playing)
• Bob Reeves 43C mouthpiece (for any charts I play lead on)
• Bob Reeves 43M (as a Hail Mary in case I need it around the end of set 3)
• K & M Horn Stand
• Al Cass Valve Oil
• Foam Ear Plugs

cheiden · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:02 pm Post subject:

Louise Finch · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:18 pm Post subject:

lgt0412 · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 1:12 pm Post subject:

For jazz combo gigs i have a Wiseman trumpet/flugel triple case. Inside is
Bb
Flugel
2 mouthpieces
2 stands (in the bells)
Stand light
Valve oil
1-2 mutes (that won't fit in the mute bag)
Folding music stand

Outside is
Pencil and as much music as you could ever need to carry in the attached music pouch
The rest of my mutes in the attached mute bag

The case is up there as far as price but it is covered for LIFE and provides more protection than any case other than a Pelican etc. It could also be reconfigured to add a picc, or to carry different combinations of 2 trumpets, cornets etc. ........... and it goes on my back with the backpack straps and I still have 2 free hands!!!

For basically any gig where I only need my trumpet, my go to bag is the Torpedo Peacemaker. Best case I've ever found for the $!!!
Inside is
Bb
Stand (in bell)
Valve oil, mouthpiece (in lid pouch)
Music, pencil (in attached music pouch)
Mutes (in attached mute bag) (I can fit a bucket, harmon, cup, solo tone, straight, pixie and plunger all in that bag!!)
_________________
Van Laar B6
Bach LR19043B
Kanstul 1600
Conn 38B
Van Laar BR3 Flugel
Blessing Super Artist cornet
Greg Black Mouthpieces

Benge.nut · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Mar 2017 Posts: 695

Am I the only one with the old Reunion Blues single bag? When I've got a Latin gig or just need one horn, I've used this same old brown leather bag for like 20 years!!

Just my Bb, and my mouthpiece. I used to carry all my mutes and such in an old gym bag that was a freebie I got from a Hyatt hotel a long time ago.

And I bought a Brassbag trumpet/flug combo not long ago with backpack straps that fits all mutes and has an outside pocket for charts, and I also have a Mike Vax tpt/flug case on wheels for when there is air travel. Fits perfect in every overhead I've ever used.

But for top 40 stuff, wedding band, commercial and corporate gigs when I just use my Bb, it's just the old reunion blues leather single bag I bought in the 90s..used.

I keep ONE bottle of valve oil, and a pencil in each case. My horns are always good and lubed before I leave for a job, but the valve oil comes in handy for the other trumpeter that inevitably forgets..